Roger M. Perlmutter (Photo: Business Wire)

Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada,
today announced the appointment of Roger M.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to return to Merck and to lead MRL,” said Dr. Perlmutter. “Throughout my career, as both a physician and a scientist, I have drawn inspiration from Merck’s unwavering commitment to scientific excellence. Over time, this commitment has brought forth an unparalleled number of breakthrough medicines and vaccines that improve the lives of patients around the world.”

Mr. Frazier also reiterated Merck's commitment to delivering growth through innovation. “Merck continues to focus on increasing the productivity of our R&D investments to create value for patients, customers and shareholders,” said Frazier. “Under Roger’s leadership, we will continue to build and expand in key therapeutic areas, advance our promising late-stage candidates and bring forth new therapeutic candidates that will fuel our future pipeline.”

Dr. Kim joined MRL as executive vice president, Research and Development in 2001 and was appointed president of MRL in 2003. Prior to joining Merck, he served as a professor of biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was also a member of the Whitehead Institute and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. While at Merck, Dr. Kim served as a member of the Council of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, a member of the Board of Directors of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and as a member of the Council of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise.

During Dr. Kim’s tenure, Merck gained approval of more than 20 new medicines and vaccines that have sustained the company’s growth and significantly improved global health. These include JANUVIA (sitagliptin), the first DPP-4 inhibitor for type 2 diabetes; GARDASIL [Human Papillomavirus Quadrivalent (Types 6, 11, 16 and 18) Vaccine, Recombinant], the first vaccine for prevention of cervical cancer; ISENTRESS (raltegravir), the first HIV integrase inhibitor; ZOSTAVAX (zoster vaccine live), the first herpes zoster vaccine for the prevention of shingles in adults; RotaTeq (Rotavirus Vaccine, Live, Oral, Pentavalent), an oral vaccine for the prevention of rotavirus infection in infants; and VICTRELIS (boceprevir), the first oral hepatitis C protease inhibitor. As of Feb. 22, 2013, Merck has 38 candidates in late-stage clinical development (Phase II and III).